A Matter of Education
by Frog-kun
Summary: Drabble fic. Asbel and Cheria explain to Sophie where babies come from.


**Author's note: **This drabble is set after the Future Arc in Tales of Graces f. So yeah, spoilers abound.

**A Matter of Education**

It had to happen eventually. Like any thoughtful guardian, however, Asbel had always been of the opinion that never was better than late.

But of course Cheria had to bring it up first.

"Asbel," his wife said one day, in that delicate tone of voice wives always used whenever something was seriously the matter."I think you and I need to give Sophie the Talk."

"What Talk?" Asbel asked.

"You know, _that _Talk."

Asbel seemed to find his paperwork unusually fascinating at that moment.

"Asbel! Are you listening to me?"

No way to avoid the matter now. Asbel gulped.

"Yes, Cheria?"

"We have to tell her," Cheria insisted. "Better sooner than later."

"_We _have to tell her?" Asbel groaned. "Can't you do it? You're the one who brought it up!"

"Well, excuse me!" Cheria huffed. "This is partly your fault too!"

"What's my fault?"

Cheria stared at him. "Have you honestly got no clue?"

"No," said Asbel, frowning. "I've been on my best behaviour."

"I'm pregnant," said Cheria.

There was a long pause.

Then Asbel said, "Wait, how'd that happen?"

"I think you might need the Talk too," Cheria muttered.

.

After Asbel recovered from his shock at the news of his imminent fatherhood, he began to see Cheria's point: Sophie needed to be told. With a baby growing inside of Cheria's belly, there would be no hand-waving the question of where babies came from with some vague explanation involving storks or cabbage patches or whatever, which was how Asbel would have managed the question in the past.

Cheria brought Sophie to Asbel's room and invited her to sit across from Asbel's desk. This Sophie did obediently, and, with her hands on her laps and her knees pressed closely together, she peered up curiously at Asbel.

"Yes?" she said inquisitively, after a pause.

Asbel was rubbing the back of his head. "Well, um, you see, it's like this, Sophie…"

Sophie blinked.

Asbel looked up Cheria. _"Help me," _he mouthed. Cheria sighed.

"Sophie," she said. Asbel smiled; she had come to his rescue. "Remember that dream you had about Asbel and I having a child?"

Sophie nodded eagerly.

"Well," said Cheria with a smile. "It's come true."

"That's so wonderful!" Sophie exclaimed. She beamed. Looking at her, Asbel couldn't help it: he beamed too.

"But wait," Sophie said suddenly, although she was still beaming. "Where is the child?"

And just like that, the awkwardness of the situation hit Asbel in the chest and winded him. The smile dropped from his face.

"It's not here yet," Cheria explained patiently. "But it will be, in a few months."

Asbel groaned softly, knowing the inevitable question was coming next.

Sophie next words turned the tables entirely: "Oh, I see," she chirped. "The instructor told me where babies come from."

_Uh oh._

Cheria cast Asbel a frightened glance. "The instructor…?" she repeated the word.

"What did he, uh, say?" Asbel spoke up.

Sophie puffed out her cheeks and looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall what she knew. "He said," she said eventually, "that when a man and a woman love each other very much, they…"

Then she launched into a detailed explanation. Asbel and Cheria's faces both went pale, then red, then back to pale, before turning to an unhealthy shade of green.

"… Then he sticks it up her-"

"Th-That's enough, Sophie!" Asbel exclaimed. "The instructor, he-"

"He's completely wrong!" Cheria declared strongly. "He has no idea!"

"Oh," said Sophie, disappointed. "I didn't know, I'm sorry…"

Asbel laughed nervously.

("Actually," he whispered to Cheria. "He's kind of right."

"We can't tell Sophie that!" Cheria hissed.

"Well, he's not _completely _right," Asbel said brightly. "You don't get babies if you stick it up the-")

Cheria smacked him.

"Are you two fighting again?" Sophie asked sadly.

"S-Sorry," Asbel and Cheria said in unison. Only Sophie could get them to agree so readily.

"So where _do _babies come from?" Sophie asked curiously.

"W-Well," Asbel began. He glanced at Cheria. Cheria glanced at him. Then Asbel leaned forward and, very warmly and gently, he patted Sophie on the head. He was glad, he realised, that Sophie had remained this kind of child, no matter what dangers the world – and Malik – had exposed to her. Maybe he wouldn't be with this kind of Sophie forever, but for now, Asbel didn't care.

And so, smilingly, he explained: "See, there's this stork that delivers the babies…"

**fin**


End file.
